82	TH£   FULF/LMENT
it was not in the least doing - and that had been his notion of his life -
anything he himself had conceived."20 He is unhappy for his "so
extremely manipulated state" and for his being "perpetually bent to
her (Kate's) will."''7 In his association with the two young women,
he instinctively and unconsciously notes the differences between them,
and shows a preference for Milly. In the party given by Milly in
Venice. Densher sees Milly dressed in white and looking splendid.
Kate asks him if he does not think her "good enough now," and he
replies, "Ah, my dear, you know how good 1 think her/'*8 Milly looks
"younger and fairer" than Kate, whom he finds surprisingly "wanting
in lustre/' as "a striking young presence she (Kate) was practically
superseded."*9
As their plot thickens, Kate reveals to Densher the darker
depths of her own character, and becomes, unwittingly, the means of
his self-discovery and moral regeneration. After the death of Milly,
the lovers are "damned civil" to each other, and are all the time
aware of the chasm that is opening up between them. After the final
interview with Milly, in which he is "forgiven, dedicated, blessed,"
Densher is intensely aware of something beautiful that has happened
to him, which he finds he is unable to describe in words. "The
essence was that something had happened to him too beautiful and
too sacred to describe."30 His reawakened moral self has had a
vision of an order of goodness, which is timeless and deathless. The
spirit of the Dove pervades his consciousness and refines his moral
and spiritual self. He does not require to read the last letter of Milly,
which he gives unopened to Kate, because he 'knows' what it contains,
Kate destroys this missive of grace, and "sickens" Densher by wanting
to know if Milly would remember him in her will. Densher moves
still further away from Kate, when he extracts the confession from her
.that it was she who had sent Lord Mark to Venice to tell Milly of the
truth of their betrothal. Kate wants to know why Densher had not
denied the whole thing to Milly. Densher answers, "1 would n't have
•made my denial, in such conditions, only to take it back afterwards".
Kate asks Densher, "Oh, you would have broken with me to make your
dental a truth? You would have chucked me to save your conscience?",
and Densher replies, "I could n't have done anything less,"51
:	Slowly but  surety,  it  becomes  clear to  Densher  that  Kate is
rapacious, diabolical and cruel.     But   he  has the  honesty to acknow-
his own ?tyare in the crime,  antf will notf therefore,- cjrscarcf rjer